The present invention relates to a data management method and a data management system and, more particularly, to a data management method and a data management system using hierarchical keywords. The present invention also relates to a recording medium such as a floppy disk for storing data or programs which realize this data management method.
Conventionally, to provide an efficient data manipulation work environment in data management systems such as databases, a method has been proposed in which a keyword which distinctively represents the contents of data, such as document data, image data, or voice data, is added to the data and the user retrieves the data by using the keyword.
For example, a keyword xe2x80x9cKawasaki Cityxe2x80x9d is added to an image taken in Kawasaki City and a keyword xe2x80x9cYokohama Cityxe2x80x9d is added to an image taken in Yokohama City, and the correspondence (attribute information) between the keywords xe2x80x9cKawasaki Cityxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cYokohama Cityxe2x80x9d and the image data to which these keywords are added is held. This enables retrieval of images based on the locations where these images were taken. Furthermore, when the name of a theme or the like information is added as a keyword to document data, documents relating to a certain theme can be retrieved.
Another method has been proposed which allows a system to perform flexible retrieval by giving the system a hierarchy of keywords. As an example, assume a data management system has a keyword hierarchy as shown in FIG. 32. The use of this keyword hierarchy allows a user to retrieve the image given the keyword xe2x80x9cKawasaki Cityxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cYokohama Cityxe2x80x9d described above by using a keyword xe2x80x9cKanagawa Prefecturexe2x80x9d, which is not explicitly given. This is an effective retrieval method when the user cannot remember which of Kawasaki City or Yokohama City is the location where a desired image was taken.
Unfortunately, when the hierarchical keywords, the attribute information, and the data managed by these keywords and information are distributed or onerously supplied in the form of a removal medium (e.g., a floppy disk or a CD-ROM), a means for merging them in the hierarchical keywords and the attribute information of the system main body is not provided. Consequently, to retrieve data in the medium the user must connect the medium to the main body and selectively use them or manually perform the merging operation.
In conventional data management systems using keywords, to add a plurality of keywords to one data it is necessary to add the keywords one by one to the data. Accordingly, even if there is a group of keywords which have a close relationship to each other and hence are not separately added in most cases, these keywords must be added one by one to data. This results in a cumbersome and inconvenient operation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a data management method and a data management system capable of automatically merging hierarchical keywords and attribute information in other hierarchical keywords and attribute information.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a data management method and a data management system capable of reducing the work of adding keywords to data.
To achieve the above objects, a data management method of the present invention is a data management method of managing data on the basis of a plurality of keywords hierarchized in accordance with classes of objects to be managed, comprising the steps of extracting, when first and second hierarchized keyword groups are given, keywords having the same keyword name or keywords equal in keyword names of all parents from the first and second keyword groups, performing a logical operation for the extracted keywords, by using the keyword names, between a set of keywords immediately below a parent keyword in the first keyword group and a set of keywords immediately below a parent keyword in the second keyword group, and forming one hierarchized keyword group consisting of the keywords of the first keyword group and the keywords of the second keyword group on the basis of the logical operation.
The method further comprises the step of specifying a keyword in the first or second keyword groups, wherein the logical operation is performed for keywords in lower levels than the specified keyword and for a group of keywords not containing the specified keyword, and in the formation of the keyword group unique numbers are assigned as keyword IDs even to keywords which are not objects of the logical operation. The logical operation includes OR and AND. The method comprises a first data group corresponding to the first keyword group and a second data group corresponding to the second keyword group, and further comprises the step of retrieving data corresponding to keywords from a set consisting of the first and second data groups on the basis of the hierarchized keyword group formed. The method further comprises the steps of forming a keyword group consisting of a plurality of keywords, and adding a plurality of keywords in the keyword group to data and storing the data, when the keyword group is designated.
Another data management method of the present invention is a data management method of managing data on the basis of a plurality of keywords hierarchized in accordance with classes of objects to be managed, comprising the steps of forming a keyword group consisting of a plurality of keywords, and adding a plurality of keywords in the keyword group to data and storing the data, when the keyword group is designated. When retrieval using a predetermined keyword is designated, data of one of the keywords, which is added to the stored data and agrees with the predetermined keyword, is retrieved.
A data management system of the present invention is a data management system for managing data on the basis of a plurality of keywords hierarchized in accordance with classes of objects to be managed, comprising keyword extracting means for extracting, when first and second hierarchized keyword groups are given, keywords having the same keyword name or keywords equal in keyword names of all parents from the first and second keyword groups, and keyword group forming means for performing a logical operation for the extracted keywords, by using the keyword names, between a set of keywords immediately below a parent keyword in the first keyword group and a set of keywords immediately below a parent keyword in the second keyword group, and forming one hierarchized keyword group consisting of the keywords of the first keyword group and the keywords of the second keyword group.
The system further comprises keyword specifying means for specifying a keyword in the first or second keyword groups, wherein the keyword specifying means performs the logical operation for keywords in lower levels than the specified keyword and for a group of keywords not containing the specified keyword, and assigns unique numbers as keyword IDs even to keywords which are not objects of the logical operation. The logical operation includes OR and AND. The system further comprises first data storage means for storing a first data group corresponding to the first keyword group, second data storage means for storing a second data group corresponding to the second keyword group, and data retrieving means for retrieving data corresponding to keywords from a set consisting of the first and second data groups on the basis of the hierarchized keyword group formed. The system further comprises keyword group forming means for forming a keyword group consisting of a plurality of keywords, and data storage means for adding a plurality of keywords in the keyword group to data and storing the data, when the keyword group is designated.
Another data management system of the present invention is a data management system for managing data on the basis of a plurality of keywords hierarchized in accordance with classes of objects to be managed, comprising keyword group forming means for forming a keyword group consisting of a plurality of keywords, and data storage means for adding a plurality of keywords in the keyword group to data and storing the data, when the keyword group is designated. The system further comprises data retrieving means for retrieving, when retrieval using a predetermined keyword is designated, data of one of the keywords, which is added to the stored data and agrees with the predetermined keyword.
Still another data management system of the present invention is a data management system for managing data on the basis of a plurality of keywords hierarchized in accordance with classes of objects to be managed, comprising first and second keyword storage means for holding a plurality of keyword groups hierarchized in accordance with classes of objects to be managed, keyword extracting means for extracting keywords having the same keyword name or keywords equal in keyword names of all parents from the first and second keyword storage means, keyword logical operation means for performing a logical operation for the extracted keywords, by using the keyword names, between a set of keywords immediately below the parent keyword in the first keyword storage means and a set of keywords immediately below the parent keyword in the second keyword storage means, and keyword group forming means for forming one keyword group consisting of all or some of the keywords in the first keyword storage means and all or some of the keywords in the second keyword storage means on the basis of the logical operation performed by the keyword logical operation means, and storing the formed keyword group in third keyword storage means.
The system further comprises keyword specifying means for specifying a keyword in the first or second keyword group, wherein the keyword logical operation means performs the logical operation for keywords in lower levels than the specified keyword and for a group of keywords not containing the specified keyword, and the keyword group forming means assigns unique numbers as keyword IDs even to keywords which are not objects of the logical operation. The logical operation includes OR and AND.
Still another data management system of the present invention comprises first and second data storages for storing data, first and second keyword storages for hierarchizing and holding keywords in accordance with classes of objects to be managed by using keyword names, as names of data, and keyword IDs, as uniquely assigned numbers, a first attribute storage for holding correspondence between the data in the first data storage and the keywords in the first keyword storage and holding storage locations of the data in the first data storage, a second attribute storage for holding correspondence between the data in the second data storage and the keywords in the second keyword storage and holding storage locations of the data in the second data storage, keyword logical operation means for performing a logical operation for keywords having the same keyword name or keywords equal in keyword names of all parents in the first and second keyword storages, by using the keyword names, between a set of keywords immediately below the parent keyword in the first keyword storage and a set of keywords immediately below the parent keyword in the second keyword storage, keyword forming means for assigning unique numbers as keyword IDs to the keywords which are the results of the logical operation performed by using the keyword names, and forming one keyword hierarchy consisting of the keywords in the first keyword storage and the keywords in the second keyword storage, and attribute forming means for forming correspondence between the data in the first data storage and the keywords in the keyword hierarchy formed by the keyword forming means, which is based on the correspondence between the data in the first data storage and the keywords in the first keyword storage held by the first attribute storage and on the keyword IDs assigned in the formation of the keyword hierarchy, and storage locations of the data in the first storage, which are uniquely determined in the overall system, and forming correspondence between the data in the second data storage and the keywords in the keyword hierarchy formed by the keyword forming means, which is based on the correspondence between the data in the second data storage and the keywords in the second keyword storage held by the second attribute storage and on the keyword IDs assigned in the formation of the keyword hierarchy, and storage locations of the data in the second storage, which are uniquely determined in the overall system.
The system further comprises keyword specifying means for specifying a keyword in the first or second keyword group, wherein the keyword logical operation means performs the logical operation for keywords in lower levels than the specified keyword and for a group of keywords not containing the specified keyword, and the keyword forming means assigns unique numbers as keyword IDs even to keywords which are not objects of the logical operation. The logical operation includes OR and AND.
Still another data management system of the present invention comprises a data storage for storing data, a keyword storage for holding a plurality of keywords hierarchized in accordance with classes of objects to be managed, an attribute storage for holding correspondence between the data in the data storage and the keywords in the keyword storage, a keyword group storage for holding a plurality of keyword groups each consisting of a plurality of keywords in the keyword storage, an d an attribute manager for writing, when adding a keyword group in the keyword group storage to data in the data storage, correspondence between all keywords constituting the keyword group and the data into the attribute storage.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.